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News Release: Hakalau Farmer Named in Child Sex Abuse Lawsuit

3/4/2013 12:07:00 PM

News ReleaseMarch 3, 2013

Hakalau Farmer Named in Child Sex Abuse Lawsuit

Adopted Boy Says Jay Ram Abused Him for Five Years

(Honolulu, Hawaii) Working with the Oahu-based Law Office of Mark Gallagher, the nationally prominent child sex abuse law firm of Jeff Anderson & Associates, announced today the filing of a civil lawsuit on behalf of a Honolulu man who says he was repeatedly sexually abused in the 1980’s by a Hakalau farmer who was his adoptive father.

The plaintiff, who is identified in the complaint as John Roe No. 8 to protect his privacy, claims that in approximately 1983 Jay Ram (aka Gary Winnick) adopted him and other minor boys in California and subsequently moved them to Hakalau in 1987 where he purchased land and began farming.

The complaint, filed this week in the Circuit Court of the First Circuit in Honolulu, states that John Doe No. 8 and the other adopted boys were routine sexually abused both in California and later in Hakalau.During this time, Ram, who was involved in agricultural research with the University of Hawaii, used threats, coercion, physical force and psychological abuse to care out his acts of sexual abuse and to keep John Doe No. 8, and his adopted brothers, from reporting the abuse to authorities and others in the community who could have helped them.

In 1992, a report of sexual abuse from another of his adoptive children resulted in Ram being indicted by the state of Hawaii on charges of sexual abuse. Ram was never convicted and charges were dropped in 1994. Ram then sued the State of Hawaii in 1996 for denying custody of his children. The lawsuit was settled out of court. Ram's last known address was in Saipan.

This lawsuit by John Doe No.8 was filed under a new law allowing adults who were victims of sex abuse as a child a two year "window" to seek justice in Hawaii's civil courts. The legislation was approved in by Hawaii's legislature in April and subsequently signed into law by Governor Neil Abercrombie.